Building digital technology and innovative lean management capabilities for enhancing operational performance: an empirical study

Abstract

The study examines the direct effect of digital technology capability on innovative lean management capability and the indirect effect on operational performance. We considered continuous learning as a moderator, such that continuous learning could influence the relationships (i.e. digital technology capability and innovative lean management capability). We considered the overall satisfaction of employees as a moderator and empirically tested the relationships. The theoretical model was conceptualised by keeping the dynamic capability view in mind. The samples for the online survey were selected from food supply chain (FSC) firms. Hypothesis testing was performed and findings indicate that lower-order capabilities, such as adaptability, agility, and alignment capabilities, play a critical role in developing dynamic capability, that is, digital technology capability, which helps in achieving superior operational performance. However, innovative lean management capability plays a partial mediation role between digital technology capability and operational performance. A moderating role for continuous learning and overall satisfaction of employees was also supported. FSC firms should consider these factors to enhance operational performance in a dynamic business environment.

Keywords:

• Continuous learning
• digital technologies
• employee satisfaction
• food supply chain
• industry 4.0
• lean management, SDG 2: Zero hunger

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Surajit Bag

Dr. Surajit Bag currently holds the position of Associate Professor and serves as the Director of the MSc Supply Chain Program at EMLV Business School, located within Léonard de Vinci Pôle Universitaire in Paris, France. In addition to his role at EMLV, he also holds the position of Visiting Associate Professor within the Department of Transport and Supply Chain Management at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. Prior to his academic pursuits, Dr. Surajit garnered eleven years of experience in distinguished manufacturing industries, where he held various senior positions, including the role of Section Head of Supply Chain at a prominent manufacturing unit based in South Africa. Recognising his substantial contributions to the field of management research, Dr Surajit was honoured with the ‘AIMS-IRMA Young Management Researcher Award 2016.’ Adding to his accolades, Dr. Surajit was bestowed the Emerald Literati Award in 2022, specifically in the category of outstanding reviewer, by the ‘Journal of Enterprise Information Management’ and ‘The TQM Journal’. Beyond this, he actively contributes as an Associate Editor for esteemed journals including the International Journal of Logistics Management, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing and Asia Pacific Management Review.

Muhammad Sabbir Rahman

Dr. Muhammad Sabbir Rahman has been working in the Department of Marketing and International Business at North South University (NSU), School of Business & Economics (SBE) since September 2016. He received his Ph.D. from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) in the Department of Business Administration under the Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences. He has more than 12 years of teaching and research experience. Throughout his academic career, he has served in three international universities and successfully supervised three Ph.D. students. He has shown excellence in research by publishing over 100 articles in different international journals (including journals ranked by ABDC and ABS and indexed in Thomson Reuters Emerging Sources Citation & Scopus) and presenting over 30 proceedings both at home and abroad. His current research focuses on services marketing, firms’ capability, B2B marketing and sustainability, B2B supply chain networks, and consumer behaviour.

Jitendra Sharma

Dr. Jitendra Sharma is a Professor of Operations Management at IMT Nagpur. He teaches core courses in operations management and elective courses in quality management systems, including Six Sigma. With over 40 international peer-reviewed journal publications, Professor Sharma is a distinguished researcher in his field. He has authored numerous cases on operations and process management. Holding a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from NIT Raipur, he brings extensive practical experience, having worked in various capacities within manufacturing industries for 5 years before transitioning to academia. With a total experience of around 34 years, the majority of which has been dedicated to academic pursuits, Professor Sharma is not only an educator but also an avid reader and freelance writer.

Andrea Chiarini

Dr. Andrea Chiarini received a Master’s Degree in Electronic Engineering and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from Bologna University- Italy. He has also been awarded a Master of Arts (MA) in Social Science and Research Methods (Organisation and Management) and a PhD in ‘TQM and Business Excellence’ from Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He is a Professor of Operations Management at the University of Verona and the University Bocconi – Milan, Italy. He has researched Strategic Management, Operations Management, Industry 4.0, TQM, Lean Six Sigma, Production Management, and CSR.

He is a senior partner at Chiarini & Associati, an Italian consulting firm dedicated to Operations Management which has carried out projects with worldwide companies such as ABB, Barilla, Bulgari, Bridgestone, Continental, Donaldson, Ducati Motor Holding, Engie, Lamborghini, Leonardo, Fiat, Ferrari, Parmalat, Tyco, Tetrapak, etc. He is a senior member of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) and Associate Editor of the journal Business Strategy and the Environment

Santosh Kumar Srivastava

Dr. Santosh Kumar Srivastava is an Associate Professor of Business Analytics at IMT Ghaziabad, India. With over 10 years of teaching and research experience in the field of data science, Dr. Santosh’s expertise spans various domains. His research interests include Predictive Analytics, Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Survival Analysis, Stochastic Modelling, Nonlinear Optimisation, and Text Analytics.

Shivam Gupta

Prof. Shivam Gupta is a Professor at NEOMA Business School, France with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. Skilled in Statistics, Cloud Computing, Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Sustainability. Strong education professional with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) focused in Cloud Computing and Operations Management from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur. Followed by PhD, postdoctoral research was pursued at Freie Universität Berlin and SUSTech, China. He has completed HDR from University of Montpellier, France. He has published several research papers in reputed journals and has been the recipient of the International Young Scientist Award by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) in 2017 and winner of the 2017 Emerald South Asia LIS award.